Structured Decision Making Tool
The 24-Hour Safety Assessment
Video Transcript
ON SCREEN GRAPHICS
"Structured Decision Making Tool The 24-Hour Safety Assessment"
John Specia DFPS Commissioner
What you do within the first 24 hours of any case is critical and it's not always the right decision to remove a child
but it's not always the right decision to leave the child in the home.
George Canata, CPS Deputy Assistant Commissioner
Child Protective Services adopted the 24-hour safety assessment to give caseworkers the support and structure they
need to make safety decisions for children within their very first contact with families and the 24-hour safety
assessment is part of many tools that CPS will put into place that make up the Structured Decision Making Model.
John Specia DFPS Commissioner
Structured Decision Making makes sure that we cover the entire area of safety and address all the safety concerns to
make sure we address the risk and we put things in place that will protect the children. Our first and foremost
responsibility is the safety of the children and this tool will help us ensure that safety.
George Canata, CPS Deputy Assistant Commissioner
This specific SDM tool which is the 24-hour safety assessment will help caseworkers identify danger indicators.
Those are specifically situations that pose immediate harm to a child. For example, it could be serious physical
harm, it could be harm as a result of a hazardous and dangerous home environment or it could be harm caused by a
caregivers' impairment due to substance abuse.
Shannon Ward CPS Investigative Supervisor
When the caseworkers go into the home they are looking at all of the danger indicators and they're really looking at
the safety and the safety is a snapshot in time of what's going on in that house and it helps them to decide "is this
child safe or do we need to make a plan to make the children safe in the home?"
Cora Christiaans CPS Investigator
This tool has improved my casework by allowing me to focus on what I'm worried about for a family and then
taking into account the household strengths and protective actions that a family has taken or can take and how they
can address the safety for their children in their own home.
Shannon Ward CPS Investigative Supervisor
It is causing the caseworkers to critically think through the process. Do we really have a safety issue here because
the parents admit to using drugs? What can we put in place? Can we really check this danger indicator?
Kyle Wren CPS Investigator
This tool is basically it helps make decisions out in the field as far as, you know, keeping children safe and you have
guidelines you go by to make sure the children are safe and the families are keeping their children safe. It has helped
me better serve families because I can go by this guideline and I can sit down and get to know the families.
Lisa Black CPS Assistant Commissioner
The SDM tool, along with caseworkers' professional judgment, gives caseworkers the confidence they need to make
the best decisions possible to keep children safe.
Dr. Kyle Janek HHSC Executive Commissioner
You want to empower the caseworkers. If the caseworkers are conflicted and worried as to whether they're making
the right decision in certain things, that can bias their thoughts and cause them to overreact. It can cause them to
underreact and so we want that consistency is important but we want to empower the caseworker. They know that
they can refer back to something to back up their decision.
Lisa Black CPS Assistant Commissioner
The SDM tool provides caseworkers with a universal language that they can use when assessing the safety of a
child.
Brandi Arant CPS Investigator
I do see a difference in my coworkers as caseworkers now that we've, you know, have this tool. Everybody seems to
be on the same page.
Dallas Kennedy CPS Investigative Supervisor
It's something that's very easy to use but that is, you know, extremely focused on child safety and we have been able
to pick it up quickly and have been able to use it a lot more effectively in our casework.
Cora Christiaans CPS Investigator
It has made me feel more confident in my assessments because I feel that it is more thorough.
Brandi Arant CPS Investigator
It has helped me to become a better caseworker. I know now when I talk to the families the danger indicators are in
the back of my mind and I gear my questions toward those indicators.
John Specia DFPS Commissioner
This tool is going to give the workers all the facts so that we make the right decision, the quality decision that
protects the child.
Kyle Wren CPS Investigator
It leaves me in a situation at the end of the day where I could go home and rest my head knowing that the children
are safe.
ON SCREEN GRAPHICS
Confidence
Consistency
Support
Child Safety
Structured Decision Making Tool The 24-Hour Safety Assessment
Texas Department of Family and Protective Services